US biodiesel producer World Energy has acquired from Elevance Natchez (ENI) a 72 million gpy biorefinery located on the Mississippi River in Natchez, Mississippi, US.  World Energy has been supplying BQ9000-certified biodiesel from the currently fully staffed and operational plant under a production contract with ENI since January 2013. Customers, employees, suppliers,... [Read More]

A Mexican environmental engineering student has developed a formula to create bioethanol from a water hyacinth plant and will see his project presented to the Nobel Prize laureates in Sweden in December. José Alberto Espejel, a student of environmental engineering at a La Salle University campus in Mexico City, first had the idea of working with water hyacinth,... [Read More]

Mexico has passed a regulation that approves the blending and sale of ethanol outside of its three major metropolitan areas. The Energy Regulatory Commission of Mexico (CRE) has published its recently-passed fuel regulation (NOM-016-CRE-2016) in the Mexican federal register, allowing for the blending and sale of up to 5.8% ethanol in the nation’s fuel supply outside... [Read More]

Ethanol and biodiesel are not inherently carbon neutral as the widely held assumption states, s new study from University of Michigan (U-M) researchers says. Contrary to popular belief, the heat-trapping CO2 gas emitted when biofuels are burned is not fully balanced by the CO2 uptake that occurs as the plants grow, according to a study by research professor John DeCicco... [Read More]

The US Army and Hawaiian Electric Co. have broken ground on a partially biodiesel-powered 50MW power plant on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. The plant, located on land at the Schofield Barracks on the island, will burn both biodiesel and fossil fuels. Being developed, owned, and operated by Hawaiian Electric, the plant is expected to come online in early 2018. The plant... [Read More]

ICM, a US ethanol dryer specialist, has announced that it has successfully bid to purchase Abengoa’s Kansas plant. The deal was conducted under the provisions of the US Bankruptcy Code. The company will purchase the shuttered Colwich ethanol facility and property for $3.1 million (€2.7m). “ICM values this location in Colwich, Kansas, and we are evaluating... [Read More]

Oil from recycled tyres has been overlooked as a potential biofuel source, yet it is the most reliable and easiest to refine of all, according to oil expert Tim Rose of Southern Oil. Rose said that the future of this source of feedstock is “immense” and preferable to other bio-oils from plants such as corn or algae. He also said it reduces dependence on imported... [Read More]

Enerkem, a Canadian waste-to-biofuels and chemicals producer, announced it has obtained certification from the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) system for the biomethanol production of its Enerkem Alberta Biofuels full-scale facility in Edmonton, Canada. According to Enerkem, this biorefinery will now become the first ISCC certified plant... [Read More]

Investors managing more than $13 trillion of assets urged leaders of the Group of 20 to ratify a global climate deal by the end of 2016 and to step up efforts to shift from fossil fuels. According to media reports, a total of 130 investors, grouped in six coalitions, wrote a letter to G20 leaders and also called on them to double global investment in clean energy, develop... [Read More]

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, will provide BRL 150 million (€41m) of long-term financing to CerradinhoBio, an ethanol and biomass-based electricity producer operating in the state of Goias, in Brazil. This investment will support the growth of the sugar and ethanol industry and help to further develop renewable energy production in the country.  Brazil... [Read More]

US ethanol producer Green Plains Inc. has announced that it was the successful bidder on three ethanol plants for sale by Abengoa Bioenergy conducted under the provisions of the US Bankruptcy Code. The company will purchase three US-based plants including the Madison, Illinois, Mount Vernon, Indiana and York, Nebraska, ethanol facilities, with combined annual production... [Read More]

Alliance BioEnergy Plus, a US cellulose technology provider, has announced that its patented cellulose-to-sugar (CTS) process will be used to demonstrate the viability of advanced aviation biofuel and biodiesels for use in military applications.  ALLM’s CTS process is poised to become the preferred, lowest cost producer of aviation biofuels and biodiesels (providing... [Read More]

Finland-based biofuels firm St1 has announced that its Norwegian subsidiary, Smart Fuel, has announced plans to build a bioethanol plant at the site of a former paper mill in Norway that will use local forest industry residues as feedstock. The company said it has signed a letter of intent (LoI) for the project with Viken Skog , the largest forest owners' cooperative in... [Read More]

The EPA’s Office of Research and Development has not complied with the requirement to provide a report every three years to Congress on the impacts of biofuels, a new report by the EPA’s own Office of Inspector General (OIG) has found. In the report, OIG said EPA has not prepared reports on the environmental impact of the renewable fuel standard (RFS), as required... [Read More]

A Nigerian sponsorship group for oil-based projects pledged its commitment to sponsor more research on the production of biofuels and biogas from non-edible fruits, in response to focus on non-fossil fuel sources. Local website Vangaurd.com reported that the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) made the commitment on 17 August, 2016. Acting Executive Secretary... [Read More]

The Australia-based Queensland government has made a deal with the US Navy to supply it with biofuels for its Asia-Pacific fleet. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and United States Deputy Under Secretary of the Navy for Management Thomas Hicks signed a Statement of Cooperation as part of the Great Green Fleet initiative. The Great Green Fleet is the popular nickname... [Read More]